Of all the preparation the UCLA football team has done this week, perhaps none has been more challenging than charades.

Over the past five or six days, the Bruins have tried to tell the public — and perhaps themselves — New Mexico State is a worthy, challenging opponent. That the Aggies, who last reached a bowl game in 1960, can keep up with the nation’s seventh-highest scoring offense (49.5 points). That a team winless in its past 14 games has a chance to pull off a Rose Bowl upset today.

“There’s no guarantees in college football,” UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr said, not a single smile on his face. “I’ve seen Division II schools beat Division I schools pretty frequently these days. They’re a Division I football team.”

True, but barely. Back in April, Garrey Carruthers was in the running as New Mexico State University president with a campaign that touted his business background. As one of five finalists, he sat in an open forum and talked about a big, potential plan for Aggies athletics: moving football down a division or dropping it altogether. A move down to the FCS would make NMSU ineligible for BCS bowls.

“But what do you think our prospects of getting a BCS bowl anytime soon will be anyway?” Carruthers said at the forum, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. “Not great. I think there’s some other conferences around, where our athletics budget would actually be at the top of the list instead of at the bottom in terms of how much money we’re spending.”

A month later, university regents voted him in, 3-2.

This year, New Mexico State is playing as an independent, having exited a crumbling Western Athletic Conference ravaged by realignment. Under first-year head coach Doug Martin, the Aggies have lost their first three games by a combined 93 points. Their 16.3 points per game ranks 113th in the country. Their 47.3 points allowed sits at 125th.

The struggles have prompted Martin to bench senior Andrew McDonald in favor of true freshman King Davis III, who will make his first career start against the Bruins (2-0). In addition to besting his predecessor in the memorable-name department, the Texas native is a the sort of natural runner the team wants to build around. Davis is averaging 6.0 yards on 10 carries this season, but his teammates have combined for a paltry 3.36 yards.

“He’s elusive,” said UCLA head coach Jim Mora, who admitted he didn’t have much tape available on Davis. “He’s done a good job protecting the football. His accuracy has been good. He hasn’t thrown it a ton. He’s a very good player and he’s mature. He doesn’t seem to be fazed by anything.”

Davis said he’s looking forward to the challenge but played down the significance of the situation to local media.

“Regardless of the switch, if we want to change the outcome of these games we have to take care of the ball,” he told the Las Cruces Sun-News. “The sooner you get playing time, I think that helps as a quarterback to develop. I can only see that as a benefit.”

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If he somehow finds time to throw while facing pressure from UCLA’s impressive front seven, he’ll find a secondary that’s still relatively unproven. The Bruins’ young defensive backs twice have faced quarterbacks better-known for their legs than arms. Mora has confidence in the group, which returned no starters from last season, and wants it to build more cohesiveness.

“Over time, they’ll develop that and get to know each other’s idiosyncrasies and how they’re going to communicate and how that’s going to flow,” he said. “So the more they can play together as a group, the better they’re going to become because they are talented.”